This Friday: Polka Dot Dot Dot and Little Pictures!
On their first visit to New Zealand in the summer of 2007, Polka Dot Dot Dot enchanted audience all over the country, from K’rd to Barrytown. Now they’re back and set to charm music-lovers in Hamilton for the first time, this Friday evening at La Commune.
Kitted out with banjo, bells and harp, three beautiful voices, and songs in the grand American folk tradition, Polka Dot Dot Dot will give you a tingly feeling in your soul and bring a sneaky little tear to your eye. Ask anyone who saw their last tour, and they’ll attest that this will be a magical evening. Don’t miss out.
Cute-as-pie Wellington electrofolkies Little Pictures are along for the ride, with songs from their new album Owl+Owl.
This show will start early, so you can go to the Dick Dynamite and the Doppelgangers release party at Ward Lane afterwards. Don’t dawdle!
Your intrepid Party Paparazzi is back in Wellington this weekend. I’ll see you at Happy on Friday night for the spectacular return of Connan Mockasin and at Spacething on Saturday afternoon, for the launch of the poster exhibition, Filthy Fingers.
And next weekend, back in Hamilton, Dynamo Go release their new EP Affordable Pop Music. Come to Ward Lane on Friday 4 June, for Dynamo Go with special guests Conway and Sumo Love Machine. Bring your friends, bring your mum, bring shoes for dancing and money for drinking.
If you haven’t yet made it along to the Ignition fringe festival, then hurry up oww! The week-long showcase of local music, art, poetry and performance ends this Saturday night. So far PJ.com has seen public art wig out the squares in Garden Place, a Dadaesque interpretive-dance food fight at the Performance Cafe, the Putaruru country music club, an improvised zombie soap-opera, exhibitions of beautiful collage and photography, and the aftermath of a performance poetry party. And it’s not over yet.
Murder, Hope of Women is on tonight and tomorrow at Meteor theatre. Steal This Play is at the University’s New Place theatre. And there are more exhibitions, performance pieces, plays and workshops all over town. And on Saturday night, The Night of the Freakin’ Hamiltons takes over Flow on Victoria Street with Kill The Zodiac, Doteyes, Bingodisiac, Wellington’s one-man-dance-party Disasteradio and your new favourite band, The Trons. They haven’t even played a gig yet, but they’ve already had the attention of Campbell Live, Gizmodo and even Pitchfork. Here’s a live clip of the feisty fourtet rehearsing ‘Sister Robot’:
Ex-Hamilton ex-band Yokel Ono are back together for one show, tonight at the Wine Cellar in Auckland, to release their EP So Many Enemies. Check em out if you’re in the big city. This will probably be their last show in forever.
PJ.com will be back in Wellington next weekend and, wonderfully, so will Connan Mockasin. He put on a stunning performance with Liam Finn and co last weekend (which involved extreme tambourining, electrified violin and autoharp, bass with built-in microphone and a bright green robe with pink fake-fur trim), and now our favourite psychedelic indie-pop elf has some shows of his own: Friday 27 June at Happy, with Good Laika, Leigh Sawmill on 5 July, and Auckland’s Backbeat Bar (above the Rock Shop) on the 10th and 11th.
There are exhibition openings all over town this week! The opening of the Wintec exhibition class installation Let Me Down Gently saw Damsels and The Colour and the Kids play in a storefront window last night. On Thursday evening, Ariki Gallery launches Post-Digital Primitive, an exhibition of stencil art curated by Glen Leslie (Underwater Collective) and Marama Mayrick. The show starts at 5:30, with live performances by Venomous Mic Technicians. Then on Friday at 5:30, New Friends Gallery presents the opening of Joel Thompson’s Science and Myth. New Friends’ George Watson hosts her own exhibition, Walking and Falling, in the alleyway beside Thorndon Gallery on Barton Street from 6pm on Wednesday 11 June.
Independent Grocery Hamilton opens its doors (557 Victoria, underneath Auteur House) on Friday 13 June, with live performances from 6:30 pm. It’s sponsored by the good people at Mata Beer. I can personally vouch for the deliciousness of their fine product. The Ignition Fringe Festival takes over Hamilton from 13 June, with a Performance Cafe at the Meteor Theatre (1 Victoria Street). Tickets are $10 waged/$7 unwaged. There’s a cash bar, and plenty of twisted local talent guaranteed. James Wilson’s new collection, Bronwyn Gets Her Death On will be on display in the Meteor foyer during the Ignition festival. Another Ignition event, Adrienne Grant’s Camera Obscura will turn New Friends into a human-sized pinhole camera from 3pm, Saturday 14 June. Real Life, an exhibition by Marion Chastelas and Cathleen Tarawhiti, opens at Ariki Gallery, 5:30pm on Monday 16 June with wine, nibbles and live entertainment from Marion and Ray.
Let Me Down Gently, Ramp Gallery, Collingwood Street (now open) Post-Digital Primitive, Ariki Gallery, 555 Victoria Street (above Mark1), opens 5pm Thursday 5 June Science and Myth, New Friends Contemporary Art Space, 186 Victoria Street, opens 5:30 Friday 6 June Walking and Falling, alley beside Thorndon Gallery, Barton Street, 6pm Wednesday 11 June
Hamilton Independent Grocery opening, 557Victoria Street , 6:30 13 June Bronwyn Gets Her Death On, Meteor foyer, 1 Victoria Street, 13 June Camera Obscura, New Friends Contemporary Art Space, 3pm, Saturday 14 June Real Life, Ariki Gallery, Victoria Street, opens 5:30 Monday 16 June Ignition Fringe Festival, various venues, 13-21 June
Anna Coddington, the songwriting force behind Handsome Geoffrey and Duchess, is finally coming back to Hamilton. Anna and her all-star band will be playing songs from her new album The Lakes (and, hopefully, Duchess’s rockin’ ‘Raglan City’) at Flow, Victoria Street, this Friday evening. Support from Johnny Barker (Jester, Shorty Street). Doors 8ish.
Attention musicians, promotors and punters. HCAC is hosting a forum to discuss the future of live music in Hamilton. Come along if you can.
Live Music Forum
There is a lack of viable performance venues for the contemporary music community in Hamilton city. In response to this, the Hamilton Community Arts Council will be hosting an open forum. The forum is the first stage of a wider consultation and is specifically for the music community (musicians or otherwise) to discuss the situation, to move forward and proactively seek solutions together.
This is an opportunity to raise concerns, and to become part of the solution.
Live music is a part of our culture and finding and supporting viable venues is vital in encouraging this city’s talent and encouraging city reputation.
Monday 26th May, 7.30pm at Ariki Gallery, 555 Victoria Street (Above Mark One Comics)
